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Thursday, April 16, 2009

Autograph Books

Autograph books were kept by Victorians and used to collect signatures and good will tidings. Sometimes these books can be a gold mine with the names of people as well as other identifying elements. These can be found in the private collections of family as well as in a manuscript/special collection of a library, archive or museum.

I love the inscription on page 2 of this little book (excerpted here):

Dear JosephineAnna Bellmuth is my name Minnesota is my station Brainerd is my dwellingplace and Heaven is my expectationAnd when I am dead and in mygrave and all my bones are rottenThis little book will tell my nameWhen I am quite forgotten...

What a great piece of yesteryear to have! And what a great piece of family history to have that tells so much more than a few dates and places.

1 comment:

Thanks for posting this. What a good example it is. In 1888 given to Josephine Nelson by Anna Bellmuth, both of Minnesota, USA, and now with the help of the Internet, it's brought some of that family back together. I have a couple of similar birthday books. Years ago, I posted the names on-line but I should think about scanning it all now too.

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About Me

Gena Philibert-Ortega holds a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and a Master’s degree in Religion. Presenting on various subjects involving genealogy, women’s studies and social history, Gena has spoken to groups throughout the United States and virtually to audiences worldwide. Gena is the author of hundreds of articles published in genealogy newsletters and magazines including Internet Genealogy, Family Chronicle, GenWeekly and the WorldVitalRecords newsletter. She is the author of the books, From the Family Kitchen (F + W Media, 2012), Cemeteries of the Eastern Sierra (Arcadia Publishing, 2007), and Putting the Pieces Together . Gena is the editor of the Utah Genealogical Association’s journal Crossroads. An instructor for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies, Gena has written courses about social media and Google. She serves as President for the So. California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists and is a board member of the Utah Genealogical Association. Her current research interests include social history, community cookbooks, signature quilts and researching women’s lives.